CNN
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University of Alabama basketball player Darius Miles was shot and killed after he was accused of murdering his 23-year-old mother and was kicked from the team after she rejected a man who tried to flirt with her, the victim’s relatives said.
Myles, 21, and Michael Lynn Davis, 20, have been arrested and charged in connection with the shooting death of Jamea Jonah Harris near the university campus, the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit said.
Miles was the only person associated with the University of Alabama involved in the attack, officials said. The university’s athletic department announced Sunday that it has suspended its basketball team.
When police responded to the shooting at 1:45 a.m. Sunday, they found Harris in a car about half a mile from the complex, shot to death, authorities said.
Harris and her boyfriend had driven her cousin, who is a student at the University of Alabama, from Birmingham to Tuscaloosa, Harris’ mother, DeCarla Cotton, told CNN.
Harris’ girlfriend told Cotton that after the three of them were out one night getting something to eat, a man approached Harris and started flirting with her, his mother said.
“He was making advances and she refused his attentions. He refused to go,” Cotton told CNN. “When they were trying to get out, someone walked up to the car and started shooting.”
Harris’ boyfriend shot back and hit one of the suspects, Cotton said. She said the suspect later went to a local hospital and helped him make contact with the shooter. Investigators say one of the suspects was hit by the return gunshot and suffered non-life threatening injuries.
Authorities did not say which suspect fired at the car or which one was injured. Both suspects are being held without bond, according to the Violent Crimes Unit.
Capt. Jack Kennedy of the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit said the motive for the shooting was “a minor altercation that these individuals had with the victim while they were out on The Strip,” a center of restaurants and businesses near the university’s campus.
“She wasn’t a troublemaker,” Cotton said of her daughter. “She was a hardworking mother who got up every day to take care of her son,” Cotton said.
Harris’ 5-year-old son lives with Cotton, the mother said. “I still haven’t found the words to explain this to him,” she said.
Miles’ attorneys said in a statement obtained by CNN affiliate WBRC that Miles and his family are “heartbroken” by Harris’ death, but that he “maintains his innocence and looks forward to his court date.”
Miles, who hails from Washington, D.C., is a junior at the university, according to an archived roster of the men’s basketball team. He was in the midst of playing his third season at forward for the Alabama Crimson Tide before being removed from the team on Sunday, the archived page shows.
University of Alabama men’s basketball head coach Nate Oates said at a press conference Monday that the weekend’s events were “really tragic events all around.”
“I want to begin today by offering our deepest condolences to Jamia Jonah Harris, a young woman, daughter and mother,” he said at the opening of the conference.
The group met Sunday night to discuss the shooting and arrest of their teammate, Oats said.
“We continue to support each other as we do this and balance school and basketball,” he said.
The team will continue to practice for Tuesday’s game against Vanderbilt University, Oats said.
“I wish we didn’t have to deal with this situation, but at this point we have to come together as a team and … we really have to be there for each other,” Oats said, adding that the players are aware of additional support services. on campus and in the athletic department.
The university said it is cooperating with the athletic department in the investigation.
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